EE joins Vodafone in buying Phones 4U stores

Following on from last week’s announcement that Vodafone is buying up 140 closed Phones 4U stores, UK network EE has also decided to purchase 58 of the doomed phone stores.

All 550 Phones 4U stores closed exactly a week ago, after the company went into administration, and the shock move, blamed by Phones 4U on EE and Vodafone shifting to rivals Dixons Carphone, put over 5,500 jobs at risk. But now almost 2,000 of those jobs are guaranteed to be safe, thanks to EE and Vodafone’s swift intervention.

As well as throwing up all kinds of concerns about a lack of high street competition for Dixons Carphone, Phones 4U’s sudden demise came as a serious shock to anyone who had already pre-ordered Apple’s new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus through the company. EE once again came to the rescue, holding back iPhone stock for anyone who had handed over their cash before last monday.

EE and Vodafone have hit back at Phones 4U, who had no qualms at pointing the finger of blame directly at those two companies for their desertion. Fellow networks O2 and Three also ditched the brand earlier this year, leaving only Virgin Media on the Phones 4U books.

The reason for the splits appears to be an inability to reach a compromise over commercial contracts.